AMATEUR OR PROFESSIONAL?

It is charged by the Princetonian, and a very serious charge it is, that "one of the prominent nines of the college league played, during July, a number of games with a professional nine in a large neighboring city, and received a money compensation for their pains. This sum, large or small (it does not matter), was not to be expended for any college athletic organization, but, if we are rightly informed, went into the pockets of the individual players. This is the first time, as far as we are aware, that a college nine has been hired to play base ball, and we believe it is the first time that a college nine has played a series of games with professionals when it was impossible to state that the games were for the express purpose of training the nine for coming inter-collegiate contests, and that the games were merely secondary to the struggle for the championship. But, of course, the distinguishing innovation is the turning the tables and receiving pay from, instead of giving pay to, the professional nines.

The whole performance raises an interesting question, viz: Are not each of the players, thus receiving compensation, rendered thereby professionals, and thus ineligible for places on any college nine which competes for the intercollegiate championship?"